CH. 2 – The Uncanny Valley

Roe woke up in a forest, surrounded by trees.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, what’s going on?!

I ‘m not hurt, but why would I-

Then I remembered the crash.

Wait, where am I? Why am I alive?

Not that I’m complaining.

I looked around, it seemed I was in a forest.

Where am I? Is this a dream, or was the plane breaking apart while facing imminent doom, a dream?

It was probably a dream since it’s a pretty common one, people do have dreams falling from places- wait, even I was dreaming that, how did i get here?

The nearest forest was at least 50 miles from the city. Why can’t I remember anything? My head doesn't hurt or anything, and doesn't feel like I’m forgetting anything…

Roe looked closely at his surroundings, the trees felt familiar but at the same time different. They looked more like trees you would see in North America or Europe not Japan. Putting it out of his mind he walked through the forest, until he found a path.

He followed it for about an hour judging by the shadows, then he finally saw a clearing. There was green grass spread out in front of him like a blanket, covering the hills. There were pots of trees here and there.

In the distance he saw a civilization. There wasn't a single sign modern technology.

A recluse village probably cut from the outside world for quite some time from the looks of it.

Seriously, where am I?

According to our teacher, the nearest wilderness to the city was like 50 miles of so. So how did i get here? I don't think I sleepwalked here. Was I drugged?

Roe had so many questions, he walked faster thinking the village would give him some clue as to where he was.

He noticed something odd about the village.

All the houses were made our of a combination of 15th and 16th century European architecture.  

Alright, an entire town with really old architecture that has no cultural relation to it's country.

Let's conveniently ignore it.

Architecture's not really something to worry over but why is it abandoned?

Roe ran all over town looking for someone, but he couldn't find anyone.

After sitting down on one of the roofs of the building for a rest, he found himself worried. He looked around for a bit he found signs of struggle all over the place and from what he gathered they were fighting some kind of animal, one with really big claws. There was blood at some and just destroyed furniture at others, but strangely no bodies.

The sun was setting without him noticing and he decided that there wasn't anything he could do now but get some sleep.

He looked for a nearby inn and burrowed one of their rooms to sleep in.

In the end he hadn't found out anything.

It felt like reality, but it could've been a really long dream.

Right a really long dream where things don't constantly change. Right, like you've ever had a dream like that, said my sarcastic side.

Maybe this some kind of science experiment? See how kid reacts when dropped in the middle of nowhere with no memory, and make him walk for hours. Oh, we shouldn't stop there! Let's spill blood everywhere and see how he reacts, did you see him grimace there! Ha-ha, that was riot, stay tuned for our regularly scheduled programmed.

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I think I’m going insane for staying out so long in the foreign sun. I think I there might have been something the food, let’s just sleep it off.

I'll go looking for clues tomorrow.

After waking up he stole some food and had breakfast, then went to this strange building with a sword sign hanging out on front.

It was one of the places he hadn't checked yet.

It was completely empty.

Why is it that they loot everything except for the food? What kind of idiot leaves behind food? Unless, it was poisoned…well, I already had some so, there’s no point fussing.

Roe poked around for a bit looking for anything that give him a clue. He found a ladder leading up to an attic and he followed it up.

There were boxes and boxes all over the place. Whoever raided the village - probably thieves - had missed this.

People generally never look up when they’re in a hurry, which makes it perfect for assassinating from rooftops. This only applies in games though.

Shaking out of his thoughts, Roe sorted through them, usually they were filled with rocks or some type of metal ingots. Sometimes clothes, or weird looking accessories were strewn in chests. Why the heck would anyone need so much jewellery? He rustled through all of them and in the end he had found some stranger things.

His findings consisted of strange metal shoulder guards, some boots, a cowl, a black book, and some gauntlets or arm guards?

The gauntlets didn't really cover his hand entirely, they covered his hand like finger-less gloves and were made with some strange soft silky material. It only covered the top part of his arm the under side exposed. They were like puny shields...

The hell would this protect me against...

He also had shoulder guards. He recalled some suddenly useful trivia. Spaulders, were the shoulder guards for samurai armour, and suspiciously enough it looked exactly like it.

Well, whatever it was,  it was reassuring to have some protection, something to take comfort in.  Even if it made him look stupid

Strangely enough they felt like real armour, even the boots had a custom feel to them.

Now that i think of it, isn't this cosplay? Wait, then does that mean that the person who lived here was a cosplayer? Or maybe i was part of a costume fora play? Then, that would mean that all that blood I found might not be real and it was just some special effects. Then no one is really hurt they could just be putting on a show.

I lied to myself and exhaled in relief.

What I found relief in was that it was a logical thought. Even if it was a thought, it was logical. It helped give me some ground becuase i couldn't make sense of the situation.

That means that there's nothing to worry about, it was just my imagination. I had funny feeling that I was in danger, now that I’m thinking about a little I find it ridiculous. Even though I don't know where I am it was pretty calming to recognize something I was familiar with. Though, it would be better to find the villagers.

Roe thought with some protection he would be ready for anything, even if it was going into a forest he knows nothing about.

He was naive. Then unkown is always something to be respected if not feared. He nithere feared nor respected it and was going to know first hand how dangerous it was.

He entered the forest.